NOT ONE OF US STORIES OF ALIENS ON EARTH Edited by Neil Clarke If you find a bit of yourself in these stories, this book is for you. Introduction Throughout the science fiction landscape, aliens have been used to illustrate our own best and worst traits, but from a distance that makes it more palatable than a closer look in the mirror. They are portrayed as invaders, refugees, saviors, observers, outsiders, opportunists, and sometimes as beings that barely notice our existence. Yet, outside of ...

Ted Chiang ARRIVAL For Brian Chiang and Jenna Felice TOWER OF BABYLON Were the tower to be laid down across the plain of Shinar, it would be two days journey to walk from one end to the other. While the tower stands, it takes a full month and a half to climb from its base to its summit, if a man walks unburdened. But few men climb the tower with empty hands the pace of most men is slowed by the cart of bricks that they pull behind them. Four months pass between the day a brick is loaded onto a ...

Ted Chiang Stories of Your Life and Others Tower of Babylon Were the tower to be laid down across the plain of Shinar, it would be two days journey to walk from one end to the other. While the tower stands, it takes a full month and a half to climb from its base to its summit, if a man walks unburdened. But few men climb the tower with empty hands the pace of most men is slowed by the cart of bricks that they pull behind them. Four months pass between the day a brick is loaded onto a cart, and ...

Ted Chiang The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate O mighty Caliph and Commander of the Faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence a man can hope for no greater blessing as long as he lives. The story I have to tell is truly a strange one, and were the entirety to be tattooed at the corner of ones eye, the marvel of its presentation would not exceed that of the events recounted, for it is a warning to those who would be warned and a lesson to those who would learn. My name is ...

Understand a novelette by Ted Chiang Ted Chiang writes The initial impulse to write Understand arose from an offhand remark made by my roommate in college he was reading Sartres Nausea at the time, whose protagonist finds only meaninglessness in everything he sees. But what would it be like, my roommate wondered, to find meaning and order in everything you saw To me that suggested a kind of heightened perception, which in turn suggested superintelligence. I also thought about how the differences ...

Whats Expected of Us by Ted Chiang This is a warning. Please read carefully. By now youve probably seen a Predictor millions of them have been sold by the time youre reading this. For those who havent seen one, its a small device, like a remote for opening your car door. Its only features are a button and a big green LED. The light flashes if you press the button. Specifically, the light flashes one second before you press the button....

Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang Your father is about to ask me the question. This is the most important moment in our lives, and I want to pay attention, note every detail. Your dad and I have just come back from an evening out, dinner and a show its after midnight. We came out onto the patio to look at the full moon then I told your dad I wanted to dance, so he humors me and now were slow-dancing, a pair of thirtysomethings swaying back and forth in the moonlight like kids. I dont feel the ...

The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang Chapter One Her name is Ana Alvarado, and shes having a bad day. She spent all week preparing for a job interview, the first one in months to reach the videoconference stage, but the recruiters face barely appeared onscreen before he told her that the company has decided to hire someone else. So she sits in front of her computer, wearing her good suit for nothing. She makes a halfhearted attempt to send queries to some other companies and ...

The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang Chapter One Her name is Ana Alvarado, and shes having a bad day. She spent all week preparing for a job interview, the first one in months to reach the videoconference stage, but the recruiters face barely appeared onscreen before he told her that the company has decided to hire someone else. So she sits in front of her computer, wearing her good suit for nothing. She makes a halfhearted attempt to send queries to some other companies and ...

TOWER OF BABYLON by Ted Chiang A tower reaches for the vault of heaven, and its builders discover that the wrath of God is the least of their worries. It takes a full month and a half to climb to the towers summit. Were the power to be laid down across the plain of Shinar, it would be two days journey to walk from one end to the other. While the tower stands, it takes a month and a half to climb from its base to its summit, is a man walks underburdened. But few men climb the tower with empty ...

The Merchant and the Alchemists Gate by Ted Chiang O mighty Caliph and Commander of the Faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence a man can hope for no greater blessing as long as he lives. The story I have to tell is truly a strange one, and were the entirety to be tattooed at the corner of ones eye, the marvel of its presentation would not exceed that of the events recounted, for it is a warning to those who would be warned and a lesson to those who would learn. My name is ...

Division by Zero By Ted Chiang 1 Dividing a number by zero doesnt produce an infinitely large number as an answer. The reason is that division is defined as the inverse of multiplication if you divide by zero, and then multiply by zero, you should regain the number you started with. However, multiplying infinity by zero produces only zero, not any other number. There is nothing which can be multiplied by zero to produce a nonzero result therefore, the result of a division by zero is literally ...

Seventy-Two Letters by Ted Chiang When he was a child, Roberts favorite toy was a simple one, a clay doll that could do nothing but walk forward. While his parents entertained their guests in the garden outside, discussing Victorias ascension to the throne or the Chartist reforms, Robert would follow the doll as it marched down the corridors of the family home, turning it around corners or back where it came from. The doll didnt obey commands or exhibit any sense at all if it met a wall, the ...

Liking What You See: A Documentary by Ted Chiang Beauty is the promise of happiness.-Stendhal Tamera Lyons, first-year student at Pembleton: I cant believe it. I visited the campus last year, and I didnt hear a word about this. Now I get here and it turns out people want to make calli a requirement. One of the things I was looking forward to about college was getting rid of this, you know, so I could be like everybody else. If Id known there was even a chance Id have to keep it, I probably ...